Hurricane Sandy left its destructive mark on New Jersey at the end of October. When the hurricane hit, I was one of the least affected. My broken fence was the only indication a hurricane had even passed over my house. However, I watched in horror what the people in other areas, especially the barrier islands of New Jersey, were going through. I saw the disappearance of Long Beach Island, the swell of sea foam in Seaside and the rise of water lines in towns I usually ran through with summer glee. I knew as soon as I had the time, I would hop in a car and help the best I could. Whole neighborhoods had flooded and many people were waking up after Hurricane Sandy with absolutely nothing of their houses left. Who was I to sit in my perfectly fine dorm watching Netflix all day when people had lost everything and were trying to rebuild? In my search for a way to help, I found myself at Operation Blessing, Friday, November 16th with the club, WaterWatch.
Operation Blessing is an international organization that often provides disaster relief. They currently operate out of a church community center in Atlantic County. Mostly, they help people clean out the houses but on Friday we had arrived too late because of classes to be assigned a house. Instead we were given t-shirts and an assignment to help out a Hurricane Relief Center a few miles down the road from the church. We ended up at the Pinelands Community Hurricane Relief Center, helping the free clothing center.
The clothing center was packed with bags of donations and disorganized clothes spread out on long tables. The three rooms, which only a week before had been open stores for rent, were stuffed. In one corner was even a sprawling collection of toys, from stuffed animals to Fisher-Price cars. We were handed trash bags and asked to help make some order in the place. To add to the task, more donations lined the front of the stores and sat in front of a grocery store further down the shopping center. We worked quickly to make some semblance of the overwhelming supply of donated items. I helped organize all the toys for the kids to sort through and then helped bring newer donations into the store.
While I was brining in newer donations, I was able to chat with one of the organizers of the clothing center. He talked of the overwhelming response of the community with donations. A few nights before we came, he said the entire area in front of the store was piled high with bags full of donations. He had to call in ten trucks to take the donations away since they had no space. It was evident that everyone wanted to help donate what he or she could to the people in need. I find it amazing how New Jersey citizens have responded to the hurricane victims’ needs. In this time of need, people were generous enough to give bags of donations for the people. The donations weren’t just clothes or toys either, some were just items to make a house a home again for people. There were Christmas decorations and house decorations that could help a person refurnish his or her home now that it was stripped of everything.
The people at the Pinelands Community Hurricane Relief clothing center were overwhelmed with all the supplies. Operation Blessing sent us there to relieve that overwhelming feeling and help them sort through it all. I watched hurricane victims look at the donations with no clue where to start in some areas of the center. However, in the parts we organized, they were able to find things easier. A woman was able to get clothes for her son and herself much quicker a few hours into our organization than another woman I saw struggling when we first walked in. As well, a small girl was able to find herself a new Barbie who she lovingly named on the spot. We might not have been at the forefront of the work but we were able to help make a difference. We didn’t help tear down walls or pull up carpets, but we were able to organize items that people will need to help put their lives back together. I plan to continue volunteering with Operation Blessing to help, even if it is in the smallest way.